From 2007 to 2009, he was the commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade, which suffered the heaviest casualties of all Georgian military units in the 2008 South Ossetia War with Russia.

In October 2012, President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili appointed him Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces.

[2] In November 2012, Kalandadze was briefly arrested by Georgia's new government on criminal charges related to exceeding official powers in two separate cases and illegal confinement.

[3] Saakashvili's UNM party claimed persecution of Kalandadze was politically motivated as the new Defense Minister "failed to replace him with his loyal figure".

Due to these events, a planned NATO Military Committee visit to Georgia was postponed[4] and would not be held until February 2014.